


You're a pan, Percy!

by Geneviev



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Annabeth Chase is a Good Friend, Aroace Annabeth Chase, Coming Out, Fluff, Hades is not amused, Happy Nico, M/M, Multi, Others Are Queer Too, Pansexual Percy Jackson, Percy is a Dork, Polyamory, Pride, Pride Parades, Queer Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:34:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23945527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geneviev/pseuds/Geneviev
Summary: Annabeth takes everybody to their first Pride Parade and everybody is queer.That's it. That's the story.Okay, maybe there is a Nicercy in here, but other than that, it's mostly pointless fluff, glitter, and puns.
Relationships: Hazel Levesque/Leo Valdez/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Piper McLean/Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson
Comments: 7
Kudos: 118





	You're a pan, Percy!

„You are pan”, says Annie after searching on the internet what felt like twelve hours, but it was like five minutes.

Their breakup was mutual, they just didn’t have the chemistry. It felt wrong to be together in a romantic relationship, where they were trying to be someone who they are not. Annabeth likes to read for hours and learn about new things, while Percy just can’t stay still for more than half a minute. Even their torture in Tartarus didn’t bring them closer to each other, instead it was something they couldn’t talk about – both are feeling too guilty.

So, they broke up and now are continuing their friendship like it was before that little interruption. No, it is now better, because they disregard every expectation, and they are ready to accept themselves as they are.

Annabeth, after an intensely emotional conversation with Percy about love and sex appeal and everything in-between, had a _little_ breakdown because of her attraction – or more like the lack of it – towards people, and she was determined to find out what is she, why is she feeling like this. The demigodnet – the naming is a work in progress, don’t judge the Athena cabin! – helped her to find out that she is aromantic asexual and excited about her own success, she wanted to support Percy.

He always thought himself as straight, like the _normal_ , with a slight curiosity towards men. Like, in plural.

The boy was definitely not straight.

“I’m… what? You know that Pan is dead, right?” replies Percy confusedly. His adorable sea-green eyes make him look like an innocent anime character, but Annabeth was mostly immune to that look, so she just rolls her eyes at her naïve idiot of a friend.

“Not Pan, pan! With a lowercase”, says Annie indignantly.

“Wise Girl, I think you are sleep deprived. Maybe we should go and see Will, perhaps he can help you if you have problems with sleeping. I know, Ta… _that place_ was bad for us, but to mistake me with a cooking utensil?”

The exasperated girl hits his forehead and groans. “Ugh, Seaweed Brain! I meant you are _pansexual_! You are attracted to persons because of their personality, not because of their gender or looks.”

“Ooooh! Is that a thing?” Percy looks absolutely shocked but definitely intrigued.

“Yes, Percy – that is a _thing_ ”, answers Annabeth with all the patience that can be only achieved when somebody works with slow-minded people daily. Since they were twelve.

“Cool. I guess…” mumbles Percy and leans over Annie’s shoulder to read the signs of being a pansexual. “Soooo, you think I’m one?” asks pensively. Athena’s daughter nods confidently.

“Well, you often have crushes on people you feel comfortable with… Your big heart would be annoying is it wasn’t so _you_.” answers softly and indulgently. “I think you are a pansexual: none of us were similar enough for you to have a type, the only common thing in us is that you wormed yourself in our hearts and now we can’t stop loving you. Even if it is not romantic love like you’d deserve.” Annabeth gently strokes Percy’s cheek, as the blushing boy is trying to hide his face under her blanket. 

It’s not like it’s his fault!

He fell for his friends only because they are awesome and amazing and caring and beautiful persons both inside and outside! They are at fault! They shouldn’t be so perfects…

Grover, his first friend, his best friend, his almost-soulmate was the first one he fell for, but it was only for a fleeting moment. Anyway, he is better with Juniper, who can offer him things Percy can’t. Then there was Luke, who was like a big brother, a hero and a crush all in one – and then he betrayed them. Annie was no surprise, the girl is his life, they can’t live with each other. Unfortunately, they were not meant to be in a romantic relationship.

Rachel was the first whom Percy thought he would really end up with, but then she decided to be an eternal virgin because she doesn’t like boys. Or girls. Or anything in-between. (Good for her, relationships are hard!) Reyna was somebody he really liked but because his only faded memory, he believed his Wise Girl was his girlfriend, so he turned the praetor down. At least she, Jason, and Piper are in a loving relationship, so that is that. (And if he felt a tiny-teeny crush for the blond hero also, he just couldn’t help it – Jason is pretty great, he is nice and an actual hero and has nice muscles. What’s not to love?)

To be honest, there was that time when he thought that Charles was great, and when he wanted to lock Will’s smile in a bottle to have his own sunshine on rainy days, but… nothing ever came out of his crushes.

So, it’s not exactly a surprise to him to realize he has a crush on Nico, who, when he didn’t notice, grew up and became a fine, handsome, gentle and protective _Italian_ gentleman.

Obviously, Percy is cursed by Aphrodite.

“Aww, you love me!” grins Percy from his hiding place.

“And I often ask from myself why…” sighs the only normal person in the cabin.

“Because I’m adorable. And, it seems, a pan!” Percy is unsure first about saying it out loud, but he was never somebody who shy away from challenges, so, he instantly jumps into it. With puns. Because it is _Percy_ – that is normally the only deduction Annabeth has for anything unusual connected in some way to her friend. “Wait, is it the right time to say: I’m so hot, you could fry an egg on me – oh, look, I can be your pan as well?”

Annabeth’s deadpan is a sight to behold. “That was lame, I'm ashamed of you.” Percy pouts but concedes. With a final hug to the fluffy blanket, he stands up and slowly walks to the door to go back to his cabin for a nap.

“Yeah, it was pretty _lama_ … But I’m _pantastic_!” With a huge mischievous grin, he ducks as Annabeth throws a dagger where a moment ago his head was and runs out of the cabin laughing.

“I don’t want to see you anymore. Get out of my sight!” shouts after him the girl.

In Tartarus, there was no reason to laugh and have fun, but finally, they can. They are not over it, but they are getting better and better every day, and that is the only thing that counts.

\---

Percy can’t wait until tomorrow. This will be his first time at the Pride Parade, and he convinced the others to go with him.

Okay, no, that is a lie.

First, Annabeth convinced him to go together, head to toe in their respective ace and pan colors, and buying anything and everything rainbow-colored. It was a long and hard fight, but in the end, Annabeth won.

Who would have thought, right?

Then, when she convinced Percy, she turned to their polyamorous friends – and found out that there is not only one triad in their group, but two. So of course, she encouraged Jason, Reyna, Piper, Leo, Hazel, and Frank to go with them!

I mean… she made Percy persuade them.

Same difference, right?

So, this year will be even special for them. Not only it will be their first Pride, but most of their friends will be also taking part in the fun.

(The only thing it would have made it better if Nico and his own group of friends would come with them, but they disappeared together who-knows-where.)

Percy is proud of his friends, he always was. They lived through two wars, unimaginable tortures, death of loved ones, but they survived, and they became even closer to each other. But right this is not his only reason to be proud of them, and satisfied with himself. He was proud of his friends, his chosen family for discovering themselves and their sexuality. Every each and one of them has their own baggage, most of them were out of touch of the mortal world’s progress.

But they are more or less fine, better than ever. 

He was also proud of himself, for becoming more than what Gabe always told him he will be. He helped to save the world two times, he accepted himself, he came out to his parents and friends – he is proud that he is more than just a disappointment.

He is proud of everybody.

\---

“Okay, I brought glitter, face paint, hair spray, fitting shirts, and flags.” Annabeth appears with her arms full of the mentioned things. They decided that it would be the best if they meet in the Poseidon cabin. After all, the only one living there is Percy, which means that they have enough place to get ready and they won’t disturb others.

“I can’t wait to see the shirts!” shouts Leo excitedly. They designed them for themselves and some Aphrodite kids accepted to produce them but they didn’t see the accomplished results, so now all of them are eager to look at them.

“Calm down, dear”, smiles Hazel lovingly at her boyfriend, while her other boyfriend is hugging her waist.

“For this, I start with Jason”, says Annabeth and does so. Well, she would have started either way with that one because she found it the funniest, but ssssh!

The T-shirt in question is white, with big blue fonts declaring: Polyamory is wrong! It is either multiamory or polyphilia but mixing Greek and Latin? ...oh, well…

Jason’s girlfriends, Piper, and Reyna fall on each other laughing when they see it, and soon the others are following their lead. Yeah, mixing Greek and Latin – what did they think?

“These are for you, girls”, says Annabeth after a bit fog joking, and hands out two shirts. Reyna gets a ‘World’s okayest bisexual’ purple T-shirt, while Piper a pink ‘Totally pantastic’ one.

When Percy sees it, he pouts. “Hey! She can wear that, but you threw me out of your cabin just for saying it?! You are a bad friend”, says and crosses his arms in front of him.

“Yes, because she really is pan and fantastic. You are just pan. Not fantastic”, answers the planner cheekily. “It’s your turn”, winks and throws two shirts at Percy’s head. He instantly forgets his insulted state and enthusiastically tries on both.

“I can’t decide between the ‘I consider myself PUN sexual’ and the PANatee shirts. The first is like perfect, but the second one has a cute little pink-yellow-blue manatee on it!” pouts in front of the mirror. He has the ‘pun sexual’ one on him, the other is in his hand. “What do you think?” asks from Piper who is standing next to him. She is in her own shirt, and now doing her pink, glittery make-up. She observes both tops, and says, “While the ‘pun sexual’ one is the perfect one for you, you could wear it most of the time, because not everybody knows the significance of the colors. I think, maybe the other one is better for the Parade. But it’s your choice.”

“I think, you’re right” accepts the boy and changes the shirt. “Now, could you do my makeup, please?” asks with huge baby seal eyes. Piper is a sucker for those.

“Come, I’ll make you the prettiest mermaid ever”, winks and starts to work. While they are talking, the others get their shirts too. Leo is glowing in an ‘Oh no, everybody is hot’ crop top, Frank is in an ‘Oh, deer, I’m queer’ inscribed wife-beater and Hazel is in her own summer dress with the sentence ‘Poly as Hell and feelin’ swell’ on it.

Their general, Annabeth looks amazing in her ‘I’ve got an ace up my sleeve (it’s me, I’m ace and I’m in these sleeves)’ shirt. All of them look ridiculously hot and attractive and Percy really can’t deny that he is pan. It’s good because even if he wanted to, he couldn’t anymore because Piper’s masterpiece is done.

When he looks at the mirror, he can’t even recognize himself, he looks so amazing. The markings on his face look like mermaid scales, are in the color of the pan flag, and are shimmering like he just came out of the water. He looks like a pansexual merman.

“It is amazing, thank you!” Percy is looking like he wants to cry, but won’t because it would ruin Piper’s hard work.

“You’re welcome”, smiles the girl and after kissing Percy’s cheek, she goes to help Reyna applying her own makeup. In a few minutes, the praetor has a bi-colored flag on her face, and the others have their own design on themselves as well. Leo, Hazel, and Frank even have uni-sunglasses with little #1, #2, and #3 on it. They are sickeningly cute – it’s adorable.

“We look stunning!” exclaims Leo when every one of them is done and ready to go and have fun.

\---

The city was like a big, bustling, gay colony, like a beehive with queens and workers in it. Every inch of the streets are adorned with pride décor, everything is dressed in rainbow colors and glitter. The sidewalks are tight with people. You could find everyone from the hairy-chested BDSM bears, through the fledging drag queens to the married old lesbian grandmas. It is a colorful extravaganza – the little group of queer demigods adores it.

Annabeth and Percy walked ahead hand in hand to not lose each other, and the two triads are following them through the crowd of bright, flamboyant half-nude bodies. 

Leo is in his element and kisses everyone who is willing on the cheek, while Piper is feeling the rush of love from the surrounding peoples. Hazel is a bit shy first, but she brought some flowers to hand out, and now she is enveloped with a small crowd of baby gays. Okay, they are not much younger than her, but nobody can deny that what they survived made them more mature than any adult. So, now she has foster kids…

Percy enjoys the flirting, he is quite popular among the giggling girls, the flirty twinks, and the older, suave guys, but he is not giving anyone a chance. He laughs with them but leaves them like flighty fae, or a merman who is just playing with his food. Percy is neither, but he doesn’t want a mortal for a boy- or girlfriend to lie to, so he is just having harmless fun. He is laughing, cheering, enjoying himself with abandon, like he never before.

Annabeth has the best ideas.

After the march, they gather around a Greek food truck, ordering everything in Greek just for fun. The owners are surprised by the language, but they are a lovely old gay couple and turns out one of them is a demigod. They talk for a bit in greek, but when the truck is attacked by a group of drag queens, they sit down to eat and take a break.

“This festival is great”, exclaims Jason, who is unusually disheveled. His cheeks are rosy, his eyes are crinkling with humor, his normally blond hair now looks like a rainbow and is sticking everywhere.

“It was an amazing idea”, agrees Percy and kisses his Wise Girl’s cheek. Everyone is nodding in agreement but soon they are finding themselves busy with eating the delicious food.

Not much after, the flock of queens is crowding around the pretty merman, all flirting and playing around with him. 

“Sorry ladies, I’m already taken”, smiles charmingly. The girls are disappointed but after chatting a few minutes more, they leave.

“Wait – what? Why didn’t tell us? Who is it?” Percy is bombarded with questions by his friends – except for Annabeth, who knows all about everything.

“I… um… no-one. Just… a silly crush, you know…” stammers the interrogated. His blush is so bright, it can be seen through the paint, which in turn makes the others more interested.

“Like the one, you had on pretty much all of us, or…?” asks Reyna bluntly. Percy pouts at the mention of his past crushes and sticks out his tongue in a really mature way. It’s a good thing that he is pretty…

“This idiot next to me is in love”, sighs the frustrated Annabeth. She knows that there is no chance in Hades that Nico di Angelo fell out of love with her best friend. The boy could convince the oblivious son of Poseidon, but Athena’s girl is smarter than that. Those longing looks are very revealing, but she just can't convince Percy to confess his feelings to the Ghost King. _“He is over me, I can’t mess up our friendship with my unwanted feelings, yadda yadda yadda…”_ It’s irritating. 

“Ooooh, the Great Perseus Jackson is in love? Tell me more!” comes from a teasing voice. Those who are sitting with their backs to the unexpected arrivals are turning around in wonder just to be even more surprised.

Not only there is Will in a ‘Fifty -sunglass emoji- of gay’ t-shirt, but there is the whole bunch. Lou, the purple-haired punk now has white, pink and red in her hair and her shirt’s caption is ‘Lesbi real, I’m really queer’, the daughter of Demeter and the son of Athena are in a matching ‘Token straight couple’ one. And the last three persons are even more unbelievable.

Nico, the usually grumpy punk-rock boy is in a rainbow-colored top. On it they can read the sentence: I used to be dead but now I’m gay. The other two, at first sight, are unfamiliar, but then one after the other they identify them…

The beautiful woman in a ‘Free Mom Hugs’ T-shirt is the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, and the guy in the ‘Okay, fine, fine. I’m cool. I’m fine’ shirt with blue Hades hair is, in fact, Hades.

“Will! Nico! And all of you! What are you doing here?” shouts an excited Percy with a huge grin in his face.

“Can’t you see?” drawls skeptically the God of Riches. Percy is blushing once again, but now in humiliation. He knows that his relationship with his uncle is not the best, but just once it would be nice if the god just ignored him. 

Annabeth, who is the politest of the group, asks what all of them are thinking. “Lord Hades, Lady Persephone! Can we help with something?”

“No, we like to come here since the first Parade. It is so nice that mortals are once again realizing that sexuality is not rigid”, answers Persephone with a smile on her face. She obviously went all out with her support: other than her shirt, her skirt is rainbow-colored, her face is gleaming with glitter and there is a flower crown on her head.

“What she means is she likes the glitter and the flowers”, mutters Hades lowly. If he wanted to sound grouchy, he failed, as his wife just giggles and adds:

“…and hugging!”

“And what…” starts Percy the question to Nico but stops at the sight of his T-shirt. “Oh. Right.” Percy clears his throat but can’t look away from the other boy. He knows that Nico had a crush on him, but to see him out and proud… it’s just so surreal.

“And you…” Nico is almost as awkward as Percy is. “I’m happy for you!” he tries to smile but it is pretty flat.

“Thanks”, mumbles Percy.

“This is awkward. Am I the only one who thinks this is awkward?!” interrupts Leo who feels the second-hand embarrassment simply from just looking and hearing them.

“No”, groans Annabeth, growing frustrated. “So, please, for the love of the gods – I apologize! – just get your act together!” This last sentence was directed to her best friend and eternal annoyance. Percy looks frightened for a moment, but then he nods and when he looks at Nico, he looks like he is going to war. And the others know how determined he is when he is ready to fight.

“Nico… Can we go somewhere else?”

“Yes”, answers the Ghost King. Hades looks like he swallowed a lemon, but when Persephone jabs him in his side, he stays silent.

The two boys, after a few minutes of searching, finally find a relatively quiet place to talk. It is uncomfortable and Percy doesn’t know how to begin, but sighs and opens his mouth to speak.

“So…”

“So…”

“This is really awkward, sorry.” Percy scratches his head awkwardly and begins to ramble in a nervous way. “I don’t know why. I mean, I obviously can speak to all of my ex-crushes, why am I like this with you?” He is not realizing what he is talking about, but Nico does. It takes for a long moment for him to process, but then he opens his eyes wide in wonder.

“Wait! What did you say?” His utter confusion is written all over his face but there is a little bit of hope as well.

“Oh, shit, sorry. It wasn’t my intention to say something. I know, I’m not your type, I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable!” Percy is trying to assure Nico, but the son of Hades is lost in his head.

“You… have a crush on me? Or had?” His hopeful voice stops the jumpy son of Poseidon, who nods uncertainly. 

“I have… When you said that you had a crush on me, but then you realized that I’m not your type, I… I was upset because not much before that, I realized I have a crush on you. But I’m good! I’m used to that when I somebody has a crush on me and I fell for them, they soon after find themselves a steady partner...” The rest of Percy’s rambling is lost when Nico puts his hand on the other boy’s mouth.

“You… like me. You liked me before…?” Nico’s eyes are wide in utter disbelief. Percy narrows his eyes dangerously and moves a step further to escape from the hand on his mouth.

“Would you please stop making it sound like it is the most absurd thing you heard before? I know you don’t like me anymore and I already feel dumb enough that I can’t just move on, but why is it so hard for you to understand this? You are amazing! You are like a grumpy cat outside but a soft marshmallow inside. You do everything you can for those you love, you are gentle and protective and so handsome… Um… I’m a bit off tangent. But yeah…” Percy’s voice, what was passionate and fierce before, lost all its strength and now sounds dejected and miserable.

Nico, on the other hand, looks like he just won the lottery. He is all bright and a small, shy smile is playing on his face. “I… wanted to forget you. I only said that because I didn’t want to be in unrequited love with you anymore. But you are hard to forget.” His confession is a bit hard to process for Percy, but when he manages to reboot his brain to compute Nico’s words, he is cautiously delighted.

“That means… You… you love me?” His voice is unsure but the hope blooming in his chest is definitely not.

“Yes.”

“So… if you are in love with me, and I’m in love with you… Will you be my boyfriend?” asks with cheeks brightly colored.

“Well, if I really have to…” drawls Nico teasingly, but puts his hands around the other boy’s waist. 

“Don’t be so enthusiastic”, pouts Percy. Nico can’t help but press a small, but heartwarming kiss on those downturned lips.

“Yes, I’d like to be your boyfriend.”

After that, they are talking for a bit about their feelings and memories and some of the obstacles that they will have to face if they want to be together, but most of the time they just kiss and embrace each other. A few minutes – or hours – later the large group of demigods and two gods find them leisurely kissing against the wall of a building and they immediately start teasing the love birds.

“Finally!” whoops Annabeth and Will, the two most affected to the pinning. Most of the group is happy for the couple, but at the end of the company a sulking god folds his arms and mutters. 

“Oh, no. Please, not Poseidon’s brat!” 


End file.
